Animal life in drains30th June 1998.

UA City's drains tend to have a surprising amount of life running about in them apart from the people who explore them. I recall one time going for a walk down Maze and seeing some sort of strange object in the dark at the side of the drain. I recall thinking that it was some sort of old bottle, then it moved! The animal turned out to be a young baby magpie which had wandered down the drain. I picked it up and took it out of the drain where I was attacked by it's parents - ungrateful animals.

On another occasion I was wandering down a small drain and came across a dog. The animal was stuck half in and half out of a narrow side pipe, and to my amazement it was alive, but not in a good way. I dragged the critter out of the pipe and then walked out of the drain. Unlike the baby magpie the dog was pretty docile, which was unusual for a bull terrier. The animal looked half starved so it was probably in the drain for a few days. I ended up hauling it off to the local milk bar to buy it something to eat which was good because there in the window was a lost dog sign. I rang the owners who rang the RSPCA and they both turned up to pick up the dog. Of course I had a hard time explaining where I had found it, eventually saying I found it stuck in a drain pipe and didn't bother to elaborate.

Rats and mice in drains are actually quite rare but are clean critters.

One Time while exploring Mackas I found a small mouse living in the drain. Figuring that it would be better off out of the drain than in it, I took the little animal home to release it. I was told the next morning that my neighbor's cat caught a mouse. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men......

A yabbie in Gets Bigger.

There are a few drains around UA City with yabbies in them. These small invertebrates seem to only frequent small drains which have areas of open drain, drains that go from creeks into short underground drains. I've seen yabbies in Cro's and Gets Bigger. Gets Bigger is teeming with yabbies, heaps of the little animals crawl around the drain. They seem to like the dark spaces.

Most other life in drains is fairly minimal. I've found fish in 50th, frogs in Anzac, Maze and Dungeon and a rat in Mini-10th. In addition to that I've seen a range of insects, mostly beetles and millipedes. There has been surprisingly few cockroaches, I've only ever seen two.

There are lots of spiders in drains, mostly smaller ones such as daddy long legs. But beware of spiders around manhole entrances. Use your flashlight to wipe away webs and chase away bigger spiders. Look out for red-backs, white tips and funnel web spiders.